This study aims to analyze the multifaceted relationship between employment outcomes and various organizational factors inherent to Korean social enterprises. Although Korean social enterprises have been institutionalized primarily under government in...
This study aims to analyze the multifaceted relationship between employment outcomes and various organizational factors inherent to Korean social enterprises. Although Korean social enterprises have been institutionalized primarily under government initiatives and tasked with employing vulnerable populations, recent policy changes and the COVID-19 pandemic have necessitated an in-depth examination of their actual performance and sustainability. Accordingly, this research first explores institutional expectations and organizational discourse, then empirically investigates, from institutional logic perspective, how employment outcomes are affected by the complex interplay of an organization's emphasis on job creation, institutional types, policy support, and external shocks.
For this purpose, the study constructs a nine-year panel dataset based on publicly disclosed data from the Korea Social Enterprise Promotion Agency for the years 2015 to 2023. First, text mining was applied to the "mission and vision" statements to quantify each enterprise's orientation toward employment, which is defined as the 'job creation orientation'. Subsequently, pooled OLS analysis and panel fixed-effects models are applied to analyze the impact of job creation orientation, certification type, government subsidies, and COVID-19 period variables on employment outcomes (for vulnerable, non-vulnerable, and total employment).
The main findings are as follows. First, a stronger job creation orientation is associated with a significant increase in employment among vulnerable groups and overall employment. Second, the effect of this orientation differs across certification types: it is strongest in the "social service provider" and "mixed" types, and relatively weaker in the "job provision" type, confirming that certification type acts as a moderating factor. Third, policy attention and financial support from the government have a positive effect on employment outcomes, with the effect observed not only in the current year but also with a time lag, underscoring the importance of a dynamic perspective in policy evaluation. Fourth, while the COVID-19 shock disproportionately affected employment among vulnerable populations, the protective effect of government support during the crisis was more than double that of normal times, thus providing a justification for policy intervention as a social safety net.
In conclusion, the employment outcomes of Korean social enterprises result from the complex interplay among organizational orientation toward job creation, institutional types, policy support, and external factors. This study contributes academically by empirically linking quantified organizational discourse to actual outcomes. It also provides practical implications for designing more precise policies that account for institutional factors like certification types and changes in the external environment. Furthermore, by examining the institutional characteristics and policy implications of the social enterprise system in Korea as a latecomer welfare state, this research provides foundational data for international comparative studies.